|
|
| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 291 responses total. |
keesan
|
|
response 114 of 291:
| 
Jul 12 02:31 UTC 2002 |
Perhaps the tube is the right thickness but the wrong circumference? There
are tubes for 26" 3-speed (older) bikes and 26" mountain (15 or more speed)
newer bikes and 27" 10-speed or 15-speed (racing type) bikes and 700 mm
medium-width bikes and I doubt you can interchange them. Within the mountain
bike category they come in different tire sizes (I think in inches, up to
around 2"). You night have bought 27" tubes for 26" tires (diameter of the
wheel, roughly). What type of bike is it? (If you don't know the size,
describe how the gears work, the shape of the handlebars, etc.)
|
glenda
|
|
response 115 of 291:
|
Jul 12 02:44 UTC 2002 |
The tire has an imprint on the side that says 26" (1 3/8"). We bought 26"
by 1 3/8" tubes. We're not stupid, we CAN read. I usually assume that if
a tire is imprinted with a size, that means it is the size it takes. The
26" tubes are too long.
|
mdw
|
|
response 116 of 291:
|
Jul 12 02:45 UTC 2002 |
I think there may be several different deceptively similar tire sizing
systems out there - I remember being "surprised" at the numbers on inner
tubes...
|
keesan
|
|
response 117 of 291:
|
Jul 12 02:49 UTC 2002 |
Jim says to inflate them a little bit and stick them in, if you are sure they
are really 26" and not mislabelled somehow. Once you get them in make sure
the valve is pointing straight up and then inflate them the rest of the way.
He can stop by some time and take a look, or bike over on the old tubes - near
downtown (Mack School). Do 3-speed and mountain bikes possibly take
different sizes of tubes?
|
scg
|
|
response 118 of 291:
|
Jul 12 04:13 UTC 2002 |
They'd take different sizes of tubes if they've got different sizes of wheels
and tires. If they've got the same size of wheels and tires, they'd take the
same size of tubes. I'm curious what you mean by too big, and not fitting
into the tires, since even a pretty big tube can be crammed into a pretty
small space when deflated. The tube size should match what's printed on the
tire, so unless one of them is mislabeled (possible, I suppose) those should
be the right tubes.
I'm still puzzled at the contention that it's easier to patch a tube than to
replace it. All the work involved in replacing a tube is also involved in
taking it out of the tire to patch it, so the difference in work involved is
that replacing it eliminates the work of patching it.
|
keesan
|
|
response 119 of 291:
|
Jul 12 12:20 UTC 2002 |
You don't have to take it all the way out to patch it if you can find the
problem visually.
|
gull
|
|
response 120 of 291:
|
Jul 12 13:02 UTC 2002 |
In my experience tubes always seem "too big" when you're trying to stuff
them into the tire. It's always a struggle. The instructions will tell you
to inflate the tube a little, which helps at first, but I usually have to
let the air back out to get that last bit inside.
|
scg
|
|
response 121 of 291:
|
Jul 12 20:21 UTC 2002 |
It's generally a good idea to inflate the tube a bit before starting to put
it in the tire, to make sure it's fully unfolded and not stuck together, but
letting the air back out before putting it in is pretty essential to make it
fit.
|
glenda
|
|
response 122 of 291:
|
Jul 12 23:00 UTC 2002 |
STeve says these are 5-6 inches too long. He thinks the tube boxes were
mis-marked. We'll buy another set and try it this weekend
|
russ
|
|
response 123 of 291:
|
Jul 13 02:13 UTC 2002 |
I don't know what I did, but I chopped over 2 minutes off my best
time to date on the exercise route. This puts my average speed at
more than 16 MPH. I am going to have legs of steel this summer...
|
keesan
|
|
response 124 of 291:
|
Jul 13 12:18 UTC 2002 |
Will the store let you trade back what you bought?
Jim says 26 x 1 3/8" tubes are is for 3-speed bikes. These are larger in
diameter than the 26 x 1.5" tubes used in mountain bikes. It is an entirely
different standard. Do you have a 3-speed or something with more speeds?
Old bike can mean just about anything. The 26" is not a measurement of the
wheel size, but of the final rolling diameter (wheel with tire on it) and
therefore fatter tires have a smaller rim under them.
Can you take the whole wheel in to the bike store?
|
russ
|
|
response 125 of 291:
|
Jul 13 20:34 UTC 2002 |
Re #124: Define "diameter" in this context. Do you mean inside
diameter or outside diameter?
|
polytarp
|
|
response 126 of 291:
|
Jul 13 22:34 UTC 2002 |
This is a wordy item, but let's agree that the words are about the wrong
things.
|
jep
|
|
response 127 of 291:
|
Jul 15 16:30 UTC 2002 |
re #112: Actually I haven't done it steadily at all, by gradually
expanding my horizons the way you're recommending for Bruce. I just
hop on my bike occasionally and ride away from home for a while, then I
have to ride back. It's been difficult for me to find time to ride,
but then I had a pretty busy June. I'll try to keep up (and increase)
my bike riding for the rest of the summer, as opportunity becomes
available.
re #113: I've never seen bike tubes that were marked incorrectly, but
they do always *look* too big when I first start to put them on. You
can put your hand between the tube and the rim pretty easily before
it's inflated. I'd try putting the tube in, put the tire back on, and
inflate it, and see how it seems then. If the tube is 5-6" too big,
I'd expect the tire to be separated from the rim when the tube is
inflated.
I've never heard of a bike tire bigger than 27", so a tube being 5-6
inches too big for a 26" bike seems awfully unlikely to me.
|
scg
|
|
response 128 of 291:
|
Jul 15 19:25 UTC 2002 |
It would presumably be a manufacturing defect in the tube, rather than a
mislabeling at that point.
You won't lift the tire off the rim with a tube that's too big, because the
tire should be too strong for that. If the tube was just too wide, but you
managed to get in anyway in a way that didn't cause it to be pinched to the
point where it would break, you just wouldn't be able to pump the tube up to
a size bigger than what the tire would hold (remember, air is a gas, and is
thus compressable. Also, tires are a lot stronger than inner tubes). I'm
not sure what would happen if you crammed in a tube for a larger diameter
wheel. You might be able to get it to work, but probably not well.
|
scott
|
|
response 129 of 291:
|
Jul 15 22:24 UTC 2002 |
For the size tires Sindi is talking about, I doubt there would be much of a
problem with somewhat oversized tubes. For those tiny road bike tires it
would be much more of an issue.
|
russ
|
|
response 130 of 291:
|
Jul 16 03:32 UTC 2002 |
Any tube with too great a circumference would tend to fold over
inside the tire, which would lead to imbalance and a likelihood
of leaks at the places where it's pinched under pressure. Not
good.
One way to check the diameter is to take the tire off the wheel,
inflate the tube until it just holds its shape and put it inside
the tire. If it fits without folding over, it's okay. A tube
which is slightly too small will stretch to fit, but it might
make it difficult to get the tire onto the rim.
|
keesan
|
|
response 131 of 291:
|
Jul 16 14:40 UTC 2002 |
The reason to slightly inflate before putting the tube in the tire is so that
there will be no chance of it folding over in the tire.
|
gull
|
|
response 132 of 291:
|
Jul 16 18:00 UTC 2002 |
Dusting the tube with talc, and inflating and deflating the tire a few times
after mounting it, are also supposed to help.
|
keesan
|
|
response 133 of 291:
|
Jul 28 02:28 UTC 2002 |
Jim just acquired a very bright orange frame which he wishes did not have the
bouncy front fork so it would be lighter, and three wheels with rusty spokes
that are at least true and don't have cones as bad as the unrusty one he was
trying to work with before he went hunting for used cones. Cones come in
various sizes and are $1 each new. The ones from bent rusty steel wheels of
cheap bikes tend not to be round in the first place and are always in bad
shape, but the tires on these wheels are often barely used. The student
apparently rode it a few times then abandoned it. One of our by-the-curb
'FREE' bikes has an imitation bouncy seat post - rusty steel with a plastic
sleeve over it that pretends to go up and down. Has anyone had any good
experiences with this style of post and front fork? We are more interested
in efficiency than in comfort.
The bent rusty steel wheels frequently have perfectly good tubes in them.
|
polytarp
|
|
response 134 of 291:
|
Jul 28 02:44 UTC 2002 |
Do people REALLY care about keesan's inane talk about fixing items not worthy
of the Screaming Operator of Bhutan?
|
mdw
|
|
response 135 of 291:
|
Jul 29 00:09 UTC 2002 |
I often find Keesan's messages of interest. I sure don't have her
energy to try to do the right thing, but I'm glad someone does, and that
she leaves the world just a bit nicer for it. Besides, where else could
I read about imitation bouncy seat posts?
|
keesan
|
|
response 136 of 291:
|
Jul 29 02:32 UTC 2002 |
Thanks, Marcus. What is the technical term for these things?
We cleaned up a few more pieces of junk from campus in addition to the bent
wheels (we take the bad along with the good), including the first folding bike
we have ever seen in Ann Arbor, with its own little rack that fits over the
20" wheels. Maybe it is not rusted in the open position. Heavy steel - you
would think a folding bike would be made more portable. Jim is thinking of
day trips by train with it (sneaking it onboard without paying $12 for box
and special handling, in the regular compartment).
We are not getting things out quite as fast as they are coming in but we did
get Kiwanis two mountain and one 3-speed bikes. The first two sold
immediately as they had only kids' or 1-speed bikes. $15 or $10 for Jim's
five hours of work getting the brakes usable, wheels straight, etc.
Two bikes to friends of friends (one will learn to ride on it, from Kenya).
One firend of..... wants to learn to make her own bike from parts and will
bring shifters (and a watermelon). Four bikes in. And the phone number (from
Kiwanis) of someone who puts together bikes to benefit the Scouts in Northern
Michigan somewhere, who might want our leftovers.
Central Campus is somewhat cleansed of junk bikes - the diag and SAB and the
park<street conversion is where they started. But they are about all you see
in the dorm bike parking areas, missing wheels, pedals, seats, brakes. I took
valve caps because Jim insists on putting them on all the giveaway bikes,
along with front and rear reflectors.
|
clees
|
|
response 137 of 291:
|
Jul 29 06:12 UTC 2002 |
Question: have you got permission to collect all those stray bikes?
Taking them from campus just because they look rusty can imho still be
regarded as bicycle theft.
|
scg
|
|
response 138 of 291:
|
Jul 29 07:35 UTC 2002 |
Yeah, "cleaning up" bikes from campus doesn't sound right to me either.
Folding bikes are all over the place here, since they're allowed on BART
trains in the downtown SF stations during rush hour, while other bikes are
only allowed in non-rush hours. The really heavy old folding bikes seem to
be a thing of the past -- the current generation seem to range from things
that apparrently come close to the performance of high end road bikes to
various far more clunky things that still fold pretty compactly.
Valve caps don't do anything useful, and add some probably negligable amount
of rotating weight (the worst kind of weight to add to a bike).
Yesterday's ride for me was an 88 mile loop through the Santa Cruz Mountains
with somewhere around 10,500 feet of elevation gain. Lots of beautiful
scenery, really hard climbing, and really fun descents.
|
